Some Liverpool fans have been reacting on social media after German football expert Raphael Honigstein claimed Timo Werner wanted to join Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield side before completing a €50million transfer to Chelsea.
Liverpool were hotly tipped to be pursuing Werner for some time before Chelsea stepped in and triggered the €50m (£45m) release clause in the German’s contract with RB Leipzig.
Werner is now believed to be earning €10m (£9m) a season at Stamford Bridge, but Honigstein is convinced that the 24-year-old favoured joining Klopp on Merseyside over leaving his homeland for south west London.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk Podcast, Honigstein noted: “I think every club would want to be in the position Chelsea look to be in, where they have real depth in key positions, especially up front. It still doesn’t detract from my view that Chelsea have been opportunistic in the market, signing players who really deep down wanted to go somewhere else.
“Timo Werner wanted to go to Liverpool, while [Kai] Havertz has become available only after some of the other clubs who might have shown an interest – especially the two main Spanish clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona [plus] PSG, Man City, Bayern – haven’t made a bid.”
Werner was so sought after at the end of the 2019/20 Bundesliga season having shone for Leipzig with 28 goals and eight assists in 34 league appearances – only Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski (34) found the back of the net more often.
Some Liverpool fans have responded to Honigstein’s claims by fuming that Fenway Sports Group failed to seal a deal for Werner, with many frustrated that the Reds could not afford to pay what Leipzig demanded.
John Henry will pay for his crimes. https://t.co/VDTQHEzbhb
— ‘ (@B2BRole) July 31, 2020
Fair play to them to be honest. If Liverpool wanted to get the deals over the line we would put down the required money but we are too far away from the valuations.
— Ghalib #YNWA (@ghalibtaimur) August 1, 2020
Bigger club, better team of cause he wanted to sign for LFC but money talks.
— Joe Melling (@JJMelling8) July 31, 2020
Literally everyone wants to come Liverpool, how far this club has come but we’re broke bois https://t.co/JTvhFpWncd
— Nahyan (@kungfunahi) July 31, 2020
There are also a handful of Liverpool supporters who used Honigstein’s claims to poke fun at Chelsea for tackling the transfer market by signing players who did not favour moving to Stamford Bridge.
@Ronn_CFC hard truth
— Umair the Lιʋҽɾρσσʅ Fan 🔴 (@Umair_TheLFCfan) July 31, 2020
Not all Liverpool fans have responded with anger, though, as a fair few believe it is now simply just time to move on from the situation and accept that Werner is a Chelsea player no matter whether or not he favoured joining the Reds.
can we move on pls… the world doesn’t revolve around us 😑😑
— REAL1️⃣ (@jega_kabir) July 31, 2020
Let’s just move on from it. He is a Chelsea player now. There is nothing we can do about it
— Jamesy (@Jamesy61986340) July 31, 2020
move on
— Milu.boy (@Miluboy1) July 31, 2020